The

BUZZ WORD

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 9

www.vvh.vermont.gov FULFILLING THE PROMISE

U.S. Navy Veterans Ray Meaney (standing) and Erwin Currier (seated)

both served on the USS Bennington.

The Vermont Veterans’ Home was established in

Bennington in 1884. It is governed by a Board of

Trustees appointed by the Governor. The VVH

offers a complete range of specialized care

services for its residents. VVH goals focus on

insuring the dignity, independence, and the

highest possible care and quality of life for each

resident.

VVH is licensed to meet all levels of care for its

residents and the VVH’s departments and staff

work together to provide those levels of care.

325 North Street

Bennington, VT 05201

For any Further Questions Please Contact:

Mary Ryan, Executive Assistant

mary.ryan@vermont.gov

802-447-6523

Melissa Jackson, CEO/Administrator

447-6533

melissa.jackson@vermont.gov

Col. Al Faxon, COO/Deputy Administrator

447-6544

allan.faxon@vermont.gov

Steven McClafferty, Business Manager

447-2732

Steven.mcclafferty@vermont.gov

Patricia Crossman, Director of Nursing Services

447-6565

Patricia.crossman@vermont.gov

Cindy Rankin, Food Service Director

447-2815

cindy.rankin@vermont.gov

Michele Burgess, Activities Director

447-6520

michele.burgess@vermont.gov

Christina Cosgrove, Social Services Director

447-2792

christina.cosgrove@vermont.gov

Jon Endres, Environmental Services Director

447-6528

jon.endres@vermont.gov

Patti Parker, Housekeeping and Laundry Supervisor

447-2731

patricia.parker@vermont.gov

Jen Morrison, Program Manager of Rehab

447-6548

Karen Divis, Quality Assurance Nurse

447-2888

karen.divis@vermont.gov

Mary Hamilton, MDS

379-5279

mary.hamilton@vermont.gov

Gary Yelle, Admissions Coordinator and

Marketing Director

447-6539

gary.yelle@vermont.gov

Administration and Department Directors

http://vvh.vermont.gov

Chaplain’s Corner…

The USS Bennington PACT presented a

donation to the Home. Accepting the gift are

Melissa Jackson and Al Faxon. With the other

members, the USS PACT hosted an indoor picnic

for the Veterans and members.

Howdy folks,

I want to make you aware of a magazine entitled 'Veterans Voices' ( VVWP) that I

have been getting on a quarterly basis for several years. Veterans Voices, the nation’s

oldest publication devoted exclusively to the works of military veterans, is published with

contributions to Veterans Voices Writing Project, a volunteer, nonprofit organization, in cooperation

with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

All of the articles in this publication are written by Veterans and Veteran employees at the VA

hospitals around the United States. The writings provide an opportunity for Veterans to share

feelings, war stories and thoughts for entertaining bedfast veterans and helping others to conquer

mental health issues. When a Veteran is unable to do his or her own writing, the volunteers at the

centers assist them.

The cost for the magazine is $25 per year. The American Legion,Post 13 in Bennington recently

made a sizable donation to VVWP and has requested that copies be sent to the Vermont Veterans’

Home. Perhaps some of our residents or employees will want to write something for a future

publication.

God Bless you all, don’t forget to pray for our troops serving around the globe.

Chaplain Ken

Members of the Bennington International

Cycle Club (BICC) presented a check from

the proceeds from Bike Night and the Bike Ride.

Col. Krawczyk, Board President and Al Faxon,

COO accepted the donation.

for your generous donations

It seems like I was just welcoming all of us to summer and before we know it fall will

be arriving.

Now is a great time to go through your loved one’s clothing and personal items. Please take home any

items they are no longer using or wearing. Also ensure that everything is labeled with their name; if you

have items that need to be labeled our Social Workers or Laundry staff can assist with this task. We

continue to have a large amount of unlabeled clothes that end up in our laundry. If items are missing, you

can contact Patti Parker and she will make arrangements for you to look through our unclaimed clothing.

Please note, we do not do individual loads of laundry for each Veteran or Member so it is nearly impossible

to return unlabeled clothes to its rightful owner. Even if you are doing laundry at home for your loved one, it

is very important that their items be labeled with their names as this will ensure we are able to return their

clothing if they end up in our laundry.

Al and I recently attended the National Association of State Veterans’ Homes (NASVH) summer

conference. This is a great opportunity for us to connect with fellow State Veterans’ Homes and learn new

best practices. We have found that many homes are coming to us asking for assistance in achieving

deficiency free VA Surveys as well as information on our Namaste and Music and Memory

programs. Although we are used to receiving deficiency free VA and CMS Surveys, this has not been the

experience of our fellow State Veterans Home. I am very proud of the work our staff does each and every

day.

Melissa

From the Administrator…

Melissa Jackson

The love of family is strong and deep,

Leaving us memories to treasure and keep

Fife & Drum Corp

Honoring Paul Tenney

Vietnam Veterans of America float stopped by to

entertain the Troops

Battle Day

James Robinson

John Knapp, Jr.

Arlene Bentley

Red Hatters

Controfeld Automotive, Inc.

Linda Hale

Mr. Lee Watters

Martha Sermick

Cyndi Candiloro

Kathy Wheeler

Missionary Alliance Church

Howard Webster

Barbara Hoar

Michael Oltedal

VFW Post 6471

Marylou Young

Dodge House

Marguerite Guiden

Pownal American Legion

Phyllis Roberts

DAV Auxiliary, Benn Chapter #4

VFW District 4

Bennington Elks

Steve Maroni

UPCOMING

EVENTS

SEPTEMBER 10 Charron Pond

10:30 am—1:00 pm

On behalf of the Veterans/

Members, we sincerely thank the

following for their generous

donations.

In Memory of:

Tom Bentley Dan and Brenda Edick

SEPTEMBER 5 Re-Creation

Patriot Hall—2 pm

SEPTEMBER 24

ONE MAN BAND 1:30 PM Patriot Hall

New marker commemorates

Veterans Home history

Vermont Veterans' Home has been

recognized by the State with a roadside

historic marker to commemorate the

long history of the site. State Rep. Mary

Morrissey, Melissa Jackson, Veterans’

Home Administrator, State Rep. Kiah

Morris and Col. Al Faxon, Chief

Operating Officer pose in front of the

new historical marker at the Vermont

Veterans' Home.

Catbird Trio

Summer Concert Rockin’ out on the Front Porch

Our Staff who keep on giving—pictured with Col. Krawczyk & Melissa Jackson

Bill MacMillan—40 years Social

Worker Retired w/Al & Melissa Rae Ann Woods—29 years

Activities

Lori Russell—10 years

Nursing Donna Richards—15 years

Nursing & MDS

Patricia Babcock—10 years

Infection Control

Lori Jerome—10 years

Nurse Unit Manager

Retired

Marion Ryberg—5 years

Receptionist

Barbara Reilly—40 years

Activities

THE BUZZ WORD

Three ways for you to receive the Vermont Veterans’ Home monthly newsletter:

Vermont Veterans’ Home website: www.vvh.vermont.gov

Click on About Our Home Click on Newsletters

Email

Mailing List

Please contact:

The Buzz Word Editor Vermont Veterans’ Home

325 North Street Bennington, VT 05201

(802) 447-6510

Email: mary.ryan@vermont.gov

DONATION INFORMATION

Your donations are gratefully accepted. Please make check out to Vermont Veterans’ Home:

Vermont Veterans’ Home Business Office 325 North Street

Bennington, VT 05201 Please indicate to which fund(s) you are donating:

Members Assistance: Directly to Veterans/Members

Furniture Haircuts Clothing

Other personal needs

Namaste Program Fund: Oils for relaxation

Supplies Equipment

Unrestricted Fund: Facility equipment Large purchase

Activities Fund:

Entertainment

Music & Memory Fund:

iPods Headphones iTunes cards

VVH WISH LIST

CD Players

CDs of any type of music

Newspaper Subscriptions

Costume Jewelry

Envelopes, Stamps, Pens, Writing Paper

Men’s Caps

Men’s belts and suspenders

300 piece easy grip puzzles

500 piece easy grip puzzles

Universal TV Remotes

Earphones for TV and Music

DVD Players

Outdoor Benches

Your donations are gratefully accepted. Please make check for monetary donations out to Vermont Veterans’ Home:

Vermont Veterans’ Home Business Office 325 North Street

Bennington, VT 05201

THANK YOU

Honoring

Those Who Have Served

PLEASE NOTE: ** We will not be accepting books or magazines at this time. THANK YOU

to all who have donated to our Veterans at VVH.

USS Bennington (CV-20, later CVA-20 and CVS-20)

1944-1993

USS Bennington, a 27,100-ton Essex class aircraft carrier built at the New York Navy Yard,

was commissioned in August 1944. After shakedown training, she passed through the Panama

Canal in December 1944 and arrived in the western Pacific in early February 1945. Her first

combat operation took place in that month when she participated in Task Force 58's raids on

the Japanese home islands. Bennington also supported the invasion of Iwo Jima in February,

hit the enemy home islands again in March and pounded the Ryukyus until Okinawa was

secured in June. In April, her planes took part in the sinking of the huge Japanese battleship

Yamato. The carrier suffered damage to her flight deck while steaming through a typhoon in

early June. For the last two months of the Pacific War, Bennington joined in more attacks on

Japan. She returned to the United States in October 1945 and, after limited operations in the

west coast and Hawaiian areas, went to the U.S. east coast in April 1946 and decommissioned

there later in the year.

In October 1950, Bennington was brought out of "mothballs" to receive a SCB-27A

modernization. When recommissioned in November 1952, she was much more able to handle

modern high-performance aircraft and had been redesignated CVA-20. For the next two years,

she operated in the Atlantic and made a Mediterranean deployment in October 1953 -

February 1954. She also suffered two major accidents: a boiler room explosion in April 1953

and a terrible hydraulic catapult explosion and fire on 26 May 1954. After the latter tragedy,

which cost the lives of 103 officers and men, she entered the shipyard for further

modernization which gave her an angled flight deck and enclosed bow.

Bennington transferred to the Pacific in October 1955, and thereafter frequently operated with

the Seventh Fleet in Asiatic waters. In June 1959, she became an anti-submarine warfare

support aircraft carrier with the new designation CVS-20. She was in the Far East during the

1960-61 Laotian Crisis guarding the fleet against the possibility of hostile submarine

involvement, also in 1964 as the fighting in Vietnam intensified. After United States forces

became actively involved in the conflict, Bennington had three tours of duty off Southeast

Asia, in 1965, 1966-67 and 1968. She was decommissioned in January 1970 and entered the

Reserve Fleet at Bremerton, Washington. Nearly two decades later, USS Bennington was

stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. She was sold in September 1993 and subsequently

towed across the Pacific Ocean to be scrapped in India.

Information provided by:

Joseph L. Pires

Vietnam Veteran (1966-1968)

Mr. Pires is the Historian for the USS Bennington and is also the donor

of the beautifully framed photograph of the USS Bennington.

Dear All,

Only pictures can describe this month’s travel. In December 2016, I went to ground zero in

NYC. Words cannot explain my emotions and thoughts during my visit.

God Bless each of you, God Bless America and God watch over our troops. Steve

Travels with Steve

North Tower Location South Tower Location

New Freedom Tower Jean Roger, my friend’s fiancé, who was a flight attendant

on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston that day.